Cardinal Burke Interview

Last Thursday Raymond Arroyo of EWTN had an interview with Cardinal Burke, one of the Four Cardinals, in which the Cardinal explains what is at stake. Here is the ending of the interview:

Cardinal Burke: Of course it does, that [is the] standard instrument in the Church for addressing such a situation. Yes, there are other cardinals. I don’t want to get into this business of the numbers. We have to remember, the criterion here is the truth. There have been cases, for instance, take for example the case of Henry VIII and his desire to be able to enter a second marriage without having his first marriage declared null—all of the bishops of England except St. John Fisher went along with the error, but St. John Fisher is the saint because he defended the truth. And all of us in the Church who are cardinals, bishops, we have the responsibility to defend the truth; whether we seem to be numerous or we seem to be very few doesn’t make any difference. It’s the truth of Christ which has to be taught.

Go hereto view the entire interview and a transcript at Lifesite News.

16 Responses to Cardinal Burke Interview

“It’s the truth of Christ which has to be taught.”
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It doesn’t matter what a majority of people think or believe or hope for. Only Truth matters. Comply and go to Heaven. Disobey and go to hell. It’s black and white. No grey.

Cardinal Burke cleaves to the truth, and makes his case for truth as clearly as
his formidable skills allow. Evidently, he trusts in the power of the truth to act
as a beacon for all men of goodwill. His Eminence has no power besides the
truth, he cannot threaten nor compel men to act other than by persuading them
of the truth before them. Clarity and reason and transparency are allies for
such a shepherd, and draw other honest men to the cause of truth.
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Pope Francis, on the other hand, appears to have decided that his program is
best served by ambiguity and appeals to emotion, coupled with some rather
cynical manipulations of synods and Curial bureaucracy. Clarity and reason
and transparency do not appear to be the allies of such a shepherd, and
honest men can be drawn to his agenda only by threats, manipulation, and
chicanery. Honest men would likely withdraw from working under such a man,
and so the dishonest and cynical would step into the vacuum. This will not end
well.

That there might be exceptions to remarriage seemed quite possible to me. Here is a case I would wonder about. Let’s say a Protestant is forced into a marriage when that person was 18, ran away from the marriage months after and then divorced and remarried and is now married a second time for forty years. That person wants to enter the Catholic Church, but the first spouse cannot be found nor can any witnesses to the first marriage be found. An annulment to the first marriage is not granted because there are no witnesses, yet that person knows, and God knows, the first marriage was forced (and thus was not a sacramental marriage). Could that person be given permission to receive the sacraments?

Bravo Cdl. Bourke and the others with him presenting the ‘Dubia’ whci has received the support of at least 30 other cardinals, and probably hundreds of bishops.
When Cdl. Kasper came out with his comments WRT divorced and remarried without annulment back during the synod on the family, I mentioned then to my PP that he was a heretic, which he received with not much happiness :-).
Since then, and for two other areas of disagreement – one of which is the de facto disagreement with parts of Amoris Laetitia – he has been side-lining me in my ministry as a deacon in various ways – he is a vindictive man and this has been noticed by many parishioners. Fortunately, he will be being moved by June next year – can’t happen soon enough. 🙂

It is good that EWTN is giving Cardinal Burke airtime. The more publicity on the heretical machinations of Pope Francis the better. But my guess is that most Catholics don’t even realize a dispute about Catholic doctrine is in progress as they will surely hear nothing about it at Sunday Mass. The latest thing being pushed at our parish is the Catholic version of the Protestant Alpha program, which, by the way, Cardinal Burke condemns.

Richard, as far as I know, you don’t really need witnesses. When I was getting my annulment (both of us were practicing Catholics married in the church), he refused. He also refused to have children. The annulment office told me that it’s better for me if he refuses to fill out any paperwork. When I went to marry my husband (who was not Catholic and had married a non-practicing Catholic outside the church), he just needed an annulment of form (I think that’s what it was called). Neither annulment was hard. Mine took 2 years, his took 6 months. I have a cousin who’s ex-husband got an annulment to marry her. Both “practicing” Catholics, in the Church by her deacon father. that marriage lasted maybe 4 years. Even she was able to get an annulment (which only took a year) … apparently his alcoholism, which she ignored when marrying him, was an impediment to a valid marriage.

Re Missy. Agree. My impression from both knowledge and experience is that annulments are practically automatic. A priest in Detroit who sat on the Marriage Tribunal as the Marriage Court is called said that he never knew of a case of denial. And now with the easy annulments of Pope Francis getting an annulment anywhere should not be a problem. Witnesses are not essential to the process.

Timothy Reed, what if a man adulterates himself with alcohol or drugs? Does that count? Standard Alanon advice for spouses in abusive alcoholic marriages: leave. As a recovering alcoholic ever capable of returning to my vomit, I told my wife to dump me quicker than snake snot if I ever drink again. It’s that simple.

This is not a rebuttal, but an enhancement : LQC
What we need to see here is the difference between the Letter of the Law, and the Heart of the Law. Jesus did not come into the World to condemn it, but rather to save it ! He knew from the start that we could never keep the Ten Commandments; thus, He also knew that we would not be able to keep all of His teachings and commands. He wants us to Care.
And He wants us to Try.
The Lord I kneel before will not condemn me for failure. He wants me to love Him. I do.
And if you love someone you care how THEY feel ! If they are happy; you are happy. If they are sad; you are sad. If they are weeping, you want to comfort them.
When I repent, it’s not out of fear. It’s because I know that I have hurt someone I love.

Timothy, I agree with everything you wrote in your enhancement except this: “If you love someone, then you will care about how they will feel.”
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No.
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Rather, you will care that the person gets to Heaven, regardless of how that person feels. When I was down in my cups, high as a kite on booze and drugs, someone caring about how I felt would have killed me because he would simply have given me another shot of vodka, another bag of heroin, another snort of cocaine to alleviate my pain and misery to make me feel better. Thank God for coworkers and a boss who had enough of how good I felt, and thank God for the Holy Spirit’s baseball bat of withdrawals.
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As I told my wife, “If you love me and I drink again, then leave and let me suffer because I will need to suffer in order to get sober.”
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But as you correctly imply, Timothy, things are more nuanced in most circumstances than such extremes as alcoholism or drug addiction. When you spouse grieves, then you grieve with her. When she rejoices, then you rejoice with her. Why? Because you are both one flesh. What can break that joining? In one example (I am sure there are others) and in a very real sense, the solvent of alcohol.
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One last thing – something my 12 step sponsor and my priest confessor (his sponsor) told me a long tme ago: God doesnt give a care about how you feel, Paul. He will do everything necessary to get you sober, even if that means dropping you to your knees in utter pain and remorse. That’s called God’s grace and mercy.

Great discussion. Marriage is sacred, God often refers to His relationship to us like one of marriage.
Re the great points made by LCC concerning other ways of being unfaithful (alcohol): Our waywardness is manifested in many other ways- making false idols of our various sins, including a list given by Paul—”greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers”.
When unfaithful in one we are simply unfaithful.
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Galations 5:20 “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy,* drunkenness, carousing, and things like these” are listed as deal breakers.